When talking about paragliding destinations, Finland is not often the first place to come up. The country lying in the far northeast corner of Europe is flat and lacks suitable foot launches for cross-country flights, so almost everything is based on towing.
There are about 1,000 registered pilots, so the sport is quite small too. Towing is run by active members of flying clubs around the country, often from small airfields such as Räyskälä (EFRY), Teisko (EFTS), and Oripää (EFOP) or from suitable farming fields like Kärkölä and Isolähde.
Another quirk of Finnish paragliding is the somewhat complicated-looking airspace. If you look at Finland’s airspace map, it looks like the entire country has been divided into a giant puzzle. The...
